The Mysterious Shark Attack in Lake Michigan

Mysterious Universe ^ | June 23, 2018 | Brent Swancer

[SunkenCiv]

According to the 1975 book Man Eating Sharks! by Felix Dennis, on a beautiful, clear summer day in 1955, one beach along the shores of Lake Michigan was packed with people looking to cool off and enjoy the sunny day, and one of these was George Lawson, a boy from Chicago. Lawson was out with many others splashing about and swimming off a boat near the beach when witnesses allegedly saw him pulled underwater, seemingly by something yanking him under and accompanied by the boy's panicked screams. Shockingly, a dorsal fin was reported by several others on the boat as cutting away through the water right after the incident.

One man named John Adler managed to reach the thrashing boy and pull him aboard the boat, where it was found that the victim was entirely missing one of his legs below the knee. Adler would say of his thoughts as Lawson writhed about and the pool of blood spread in front of stunned witnesses, "I just couldn't believe it, but I had to believe what I saw happening right before my eyes!" Lawson was rushed to the hospital, where doctors apparently were quick to recognize the bite wound as having been inflicted by a shark...

[SunkenCiv]

However, it was ascertained that it had perhaps been a bull shark that had made its way up to the lake by way of the Illinois River.

FYI, the Illinois River is a tributary of the Mississippi, and doesn't flow out of Lake Michigan. There's a canal system that in various forms dates back to the mid-19th century, but the system of locks would require patience and planning ability on the part of a hungry shark. Arrival via the St. Lawrence Seaway's Welland Canal -- comprised of eight locks with a total rise of nearly 100 meters -- would have similar requirements.

While not impossible, it seems more likely to be misidentification, or if a shark, perhaps an exotic pet dumping.

[SunkenCiv]

[singing] Baby shark, doo doo...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

How about a Sturgeon? Do they have teeth? I don’t remember...

[crz]

Likely an alligator.

[marktwain]

Sturgeon do not have teeth.

Maybe it was an Alligator Snapper Turtle...

[4yearlurker]

Bull shark.

[rdl6989]

I did some digging and I found this article with more info:

https://www.wglt.org/post/getting-bottom-lake-michigans-legendary-shark-attack

[Diana in Wisconsin]

My old farm was across from a lake owned by the DNR, so no fishing, no critters were ever disturbed, etc.

From time to time I’d find huge, and I mean HUGE, snappers in my yard who had managed to make it across a relatively busy road.

So happy none of my kids, pets, ME or the free-ranging chickens ever got bitten!

So, I’m going with your Snapper Theory. ;)

[mass55th]

I’ve read about Bull Sharks being found in the St. Lawrence River.

[dfwgator]

Candygram!

[Bob434]

[[Sturgeon do not have teeth. ]]

The wealthy ones with enough money for false teeth do-

[C210N]

Sharks can attack ANYWHERE.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks, that was neat! I've seen a very large (about 2 feet across the shell) snapping turtle in a large (more than a square mile) inland lake in Michigan, and someone I know has pulled a pike more than 4 feet long out of an inland lake (those two critter types are probably responsible for most of the ducks with a foot missing) -- it wouldn't surprise me if even larger ones exist in Lake Michigan, and they have the advantage of being local species.

[John S Mosby]

Would have to be a shark that tolerates fresh water, and also different oxygenation levels of fresh water. Sharks do not have moveable gills, and so.... MUST swim to drive oxygenated water over their gill rakes.

Secondly the imbalance of less saline content in the water would drive the saline out of the shark’s system, and eventually kill it.

So I agree with a bull shark— most common seen in brackish canals and such. Or a damn huge catfish (the big ones could take a leg if they wanted to— key is photos of bite marks- a catfish would tear the leg off. There are huge ones in the TN river hanging out near dams.... human eating size have been seen, rarely caught.

[piasa]

There was a bull shark caught at Alton, Illinois, just north of St. Louis, on the Mississippi.

And there is an ancient prehistoric Indian city across from St. Louis where mostly decayed clubs/”swords” of wood with real shark’s teeth along with flint points made in the shape of shark’s teeth still mounted in the handles, were found during archeaological digs. They had copper clad hanI think one was plowed up, too.

[piasa]

There was a bull shark caught at Alton, Illinois, just north of St. Louis, on the Mississippi.

And there is an ancient prehistoric Indian city across from St. Louis where mostly decayed clubs/”swords” of wood with real shark’s teeth along with flint points made in the shape of shark’s teeth still mounted in the handles, were found during archeaological digs. They had copper clad hanI think one was plowed up, too.

[They weren’t fossilized shark’s teeth, either]

[SunkenCiv]

Yes, but only if they've been touched for the very first time.

[dontBSme]

Large Muskie?

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, thanks! Great addition! Do you mean Cahokia?

[SunkenCiv]

:^)